Aviation and Heritage Roundup
November 2024
Provided by Paul Squires, CAPA-ACCA Contact, Wetaskiwin, Alberta
Memorial for Nose-Art Historian Clarence Simonsen
In Memory: Clarence A. Simonsen – Prairie Rose Cremation & Funeral Services
The latest from CANAV, RCAF 100th and a history of the Bell 47
CANAV Books Blog | The first and last word in Canadian aviation publishing since 1981
Nov. 28 – The Canadian Museum of Flight at Langley BC will be moving to a larger facility at Pitt Meadows.
B.C. based Canadian Museum of Flight to move – The Chilliwack Progress
Nov. 28 – I thought security had been made super tight these days.
Stowaway caught on flight from New York to Paris
Nov. 28 – Derelict Douglas aircraft in Alaska
Alaska’s Douglas Derelicts – Vintage Aviation News
Nov. 28 – Re-creating the classic WKRP Turkey Drop
Hiller Aviation Museum is recreating “WKRP” turkey drop, with a key difference
Nov. 28 – A good overview on what is being done to make passenger aircraft more carbon friendly (now if only we could certify better engines for General Aviation aircraft that are still using engines designed 70-80 years ago).
Can flights hit net zero by 2025 and at what cost to passengers?
And Green happens in Canada
Government of Canada invests to accelerate aviation industry’s green transformation – Canada.ca
Nov. 27 – Alaska turkey drop for US Thanksgiving. “As God as my Witness …”
Thanksgiving turkeys airdropped to remote Alaska homes
‘It’s a bird! It’s a plane!’ In Alaska, it’s both, with a pilot dropping turkeys off to rural homes | CBC News
Nov. 27 – FAI Young Artists competition at Qatar
FAI Young Artists Contest: discover the artworks from Shafallah Centre for Persons with Disabilities | World Air Sports Federation
Nov. 25 – No CF-18 demonstration aircraft for 2025
CF-18 Demo Aircraft Standing Down For 2025 – Canadian Aviator Magazine
Nov. 25 – Don’t have a Museum Restaurant? Go get an old airliner
Solent Sky Museum: BAC1-11 jet plane to become cafe
Nov. 22 – Spain fights back against undisclosed airline charges
Spain fines budget airlines including Ryanair and EasyJet €179m
Nov. 21 – The science of coatings, from jet engines to space pipes and toothpaste
The superpowers of coatings make possible the impossible The superpowers of coatings make possible the impossible
Nov. 21 – Robot Helicopteres and fire fighting tanks
Self-driving aircraft may soon head to a wildfire near you – Fire Aviation
Nov. 21 – A look at the history of CargoJet
Canada’s Leading Cargo Provider: A Closer Look At The History Of CargoJet
Nov. 19 – Prime Air B.767 nose-gear collapse in Vancouver
Vancouver airport runway will likely be closed for 2 days after cargo plane overruns landing | CBC News
Nov. 19 – Caproni 310 restoration in Norway
A Caproni Ca.310 Libeccio Takes Shape in Norway – Vintage Aviation News
Nov. 17 – Mercy flights for wildlife
Father and son from Kitchener fly over 1,300 km for emergency rescue of bald eagle | CBC News
Nov. 17 – London Children’s Museum moving to new location (I wish we had more places like this).
‘It’s so special’: Londoners bid farewell to the old Children’s Museum on Wharncliffe Rd | CBC News
Nov. 17 – Not every day you see a real rotary engine installation
Original 1918 LeRhone Rotary Engine Runs for First Time on Fokker Triplane Replica – Vintage Aviation News
Nov. 16 – I assume “random gunfire” is a Texas thing.
Southwest plane struck by gunfire at Texas airport
Nov. 16 – Italian and Canadian aircraft production compared. It sounds like an interesting comparison, but the numbers used for Canadian production look far off. For example I make Anson production in Canada (II, V and one VI, not including IV as they are modifications) as 2,451, not 3,197. Other problems too, but nice to see the production of Hampdens, Helldivers and B-29 centre sections included. (What few realize is that Canadian vehicle production was major in the War, more trucks produced in Canada than Germany, Italy and Japan combined!)
Canada Vs Italy: Which Produced The Most Aircraft In WW2?
Nov. 16 – Latest on Do 17 conservation
Rare Dornier Do 17 Wing Section to be Displayed at the RAF Museum – Vintage Aviation News
Nov. 15 – Last SAR Buffalo arrives in Ottawa, by truck
Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa now home to RCAF Buffalo aircraft | Ottawa Citizen
Nov. 15 – Update on UK Typhoon project
Hawker Typhoon Preservation Group Achieves Major Milestone – Vintage Aviation News
Nov. 15 – Looking for missing Australian airplane continues after 43 years.
Search continues for missing plane VH-MDX which disappeared over Barrington Tops National Park more than 40 years ago – ABC News
Experts called in to solve Australia’s greatest aviation mystery – ABC News
Nov. 14 – No Bucks, No Buck Rogers
Europe’s flying taxi dreams falter as cash runs short
Nov. 13 – 1918 Jenny project (includes plans and maybe more for Canuck)
Curtiss Jenny Project For Sale: “Original Serial Number, Two OX-5 Engines”
Nov. 13 – Bali flights affected by erupting volcano
Bali flights cancelled due to dangerous volcanic ash
Nov. 12 – A look at the early days of Regional Jets
The Regional Jet Revolution – New York Aviation History
Nov. 12 – Cutting contrails by smart routing (interesting to recall that when airliners were grounded after Sept. 11 there was a measurable increase in the amount of sunlight recorded at meteorological stations.)
Cheap fix floated for contrail plane vapour’s climate impact
Nov. 11 – Banners of Local Veterans program expanding
Banners put veterans front and centre in small town Ontario | CBC News
Nov. 11 – New inductees to Aviation Hall of Fame
Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame Announces 2025 Inductees – Canadian Aviator Magazine
Nov. 11 – The importance of family mementos
Northwestern Ontario residents share wartime stories through mementos kept for generations | CBC News
Nov. 11 – Have you heard of the Wood Buffalo Military Museum? (BTW, the real missed story about the Bren Gun is not just that it’s heavy, but the majority of them were made here in Canada).
Fort McMurray museum offers hands-on insights into the meaning of Remembrance Day | CBC.ca
And celebrating Indigenous soldiers in Northern Alberta
Legacy of Indigenous soldiers now being preserved in northwestern Alberta | CBC News
Nov. 11 – Saskatchewan Seed Company honours veterans by naming seeds after them. It details, among others, Reg W. Harrison, who survived several crashes, engine failures, night fighter attacks, damage in a friendly fire incident, was a Guinea Pig and a member of the Caterpillar Club in 1944, none attributable to his abilities or actions.
Canadian seed company finds way to honour veterans while naming new plants | CBC News
Nov. 11 – Family learns details of relatives loss, and of memorial to the crew (the article has several cringe-worthy errors, but the story is interesting).
For decades, a British town has honoured this Canadian soldier. His family only just found out | CBC News
Details:
April 1944. 10 635 Sqn. Lancaster III ND820 F2-W caught fire and crashed in the sea off England on a training exercise. F/O T.F., Wilson, killed; Sgt J.W. Nixon, F/S D.J. Farrant RAF, Sgt R.H.F. Malthouse RAF, WO R.T. Lord RAF, F/S J.B. Bannan RAF and F/S A.I.G. Hunter RAF missing.
Nov. 11 – Flights to Haiti suspended after airliner comes under gunfire, one crew wounded
Haiti: Airlines suspend flights as Spirit plane hit by gunfire
Nov. 11 – Celebrating the 130th anniversary of heaver than air flight in Australia, and the inventor who gave his ideas to the public.
Australian aviation pioneer Lawrence Hargrave celebrated 130 years after first heavier-than-air flight – ABC News
Nov. 10 – Teaching Canada’s History, a problem we are all familiar with
Ahead of Remembrance Day, poll suggests most Canadians don’t know much about their history | CBC News
Historica Canada has a contact page at Contact | Historica Canada , if any members want to get involved with them. Note: Short message area.
Nov. 10 – And a look at one of Canada’s lesser known aviation museums, the Canadian Forces Museum of Aerospace Defence in North Bay
North Bay’s Aerospace Museum keeps military stories alive – North Bay News
Nov. 10 – Bomb Intervalometer recovered for display from Gander Lake B-24, details of loss and images of what a pristine one looks like.
A relic of WW II has been lifted from the bottom of Gander Lake | CBC News
September 4, 1943
#10 (BR) Sqn. RCAF, Gander, Nfld., Liberator #589 ‘D’ crashed and sank in Gander Lake while practising local night flying, S/L J.G. MacKenzie killed, F/O V.E. Bill, aero engine mechanic LAC G. Ward and W/C J.M. Young MiD missing (Awards, R.W.R. Walker). In 2022 the wreck of the aircraft was discovered and imaged (M. Cotterill, Second World War-era bomber discovered in Gander Lake, Newfoundland, Canadiangeographic.ca, September 6, 2022)
Nov. 10 – 110 year old Quilt for support of CEF
N.B. military history stitched in red on 110-year-old quilt | CBC News
Nov. 10 – Gas Masks and Newfoundland, preserved in Archives, a good example of why we do what we do.
The man behind the mask
Nov. 10 – Mountain storms in the Himalayas are not to be taken for granted. Pre-cell phone this might have been just a paraglider lost forever.
‘I knew I was gonna die’: Yukon paraglider recounts terrifying, high-altitude mishap in India | CBC News
We know about 435 Squadron Dakota KN563 in Burma
June 21 1945. 435 Sqn. Dakota IV KN563 lost in SEAC, F/O D.M. Cameron, WO1 S.J. Cox, aero engine mechanic LAC C.J. Kopp, P/O J.W. Kyle DFC & Bar, F/S C.P. McLaren and WO2 W.B. Rogers missing in Burma.
The wreckage of this aircraft was discovered by a hunter in 1990, who found P/O Kyle’s engraved watch. After several years of negotiation a Canadian Forces team was guided to the crash site in 1996 and the remains of the crew were recovered. The aircraft is believed to have been driven inverted into the ground by extreme weather conditions. A description of being caught in monsoon weather by a 436 Sqn. pilot was printed in The R.C.A.F. Overseas – The Sixth Year.
Another example from the war, the day after D-Day.
June 7 1944 681 Sqn. PR Spitfire, P/O J.W. Bradford, leaves a forward airfield in northern India to photograph a bridge over the Salween River near the Burma-Chinese border. Completing his sortie he runs into severe weather that ices up his aircraft, but manages to climb out of cloud at 42,000′. Recognizing the Bay of Bengal, well south of his intended course, he manages a low power descent to Calcutta, landing safe and out of fuel after 3 ¾ hours (Lancaster, C. et al). P/O Bradford later flew with TCA and Air Canada.
Nov. 9 – One of the Many
Thame Museum launches exhibition for war hero Johnny Smythe
He was shot down November 18-19, 1943 on what was the first operation of what is now called the Battle of Berlin, and there is a Canadian connection:
Nov 18-19 1943. 623 Sqn. Stirling III LJ454 IC-E hit by flak and abandoned over Germany. The crew, P/O H.A. Gourlie, F/O C.R. Bennett RAAF, Sgt W.E. Hutchings RAF, P/O J.H. Smythe RAF (Sierra Leone) [wounded], Sgt L.S. Milnthorp RAF, Sgt L.C. Ashplant RAF and Sgt F.K. Matthews were taken PoW. Post war P/O Smythe, now a F/L, played a large part in opening up England to immigration from the Caribbean as a liaison officer on the Empire Windrush, and later became a lawyer and served as Attorney General of Sierra Leone (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-552826092). The bomber flew by itself in circles for several hours until it crashed in Germany.
Nov. 9 – The only British woman who fought in the First World War
Flora Sandes: The only British woman to fight on the frontline in World War One
Nov. 9 – And an early Australian aviator whose story was nearly forgotten
May Bradford remembered as first woman to hold dual commercial pilot, engineering licences – ABC News
Nov. 9 – Reduced admissions for local residents, a good way to involve community
Fleet Air Arm Museum offers discount for local people
Nov. 8 – Old British satellite in unexpected location, and no one knows why.
Skynet-1A: Why did the UK’s oldest space satellite end up thousands of miles from where it should have been?
Nov. 8 – Space View of smog in Pakistan
Lahore smog: Pollution hits record levels in Pakistan city
Nov. 7 – Prepping the Philippine Mars for it’s flight to Pima
Philippine Mars plane gets ready for final run – Victoria Times Colonist
Philippine Mars Begins Water Trials – Vintage Aviation News
Nov. 7 – The end of classic airliner flights in the Netherlands
End of an Era: DDA Classic Airlines’ DC-3 ‘Princess Amalia’ Retires After 40 Years of Service in the Netherlands – Vintage Aviation News
Nov. 7 – New app scans headstones to provide soldiers history
A new app is helping to rescue veterans’ stories from fading memories | CBC News
Nov. 5 – Using wood in space?
LignoSat: First wood-panelled satellite launched into space
As Japan sends a wooden satellite into space, experts say astronauts could one day live in wooden structures | CBC News
Nov. 5 – Power from Space
Iceland looking to add space solar power to its sources of renewable energy by 2030 | CBC Radio
Nov. 4 – How does India’s space program do so much at so little cost?
Chandrayaan, Mangalyaan: Why it costs India so little to reach the Moon and Mars
Nov. 4 – Incendiary attacks on DHL flights may have been dry run for attacks on Canada and the USA
Incendiary device plot targeting UK may have been dry run for US and Canada | UK news | The Guardian
Canada expresses concerns to Russia after reports of plot to put incendiary devices on planes | CBC News
How an alleged Russian plot suddenly upended Canada’s air cargo rules | CBC News
Nov. 4 – Barcelona Airport flooding in further rain events in Spain
Barcelona airport and highways hit by flooding
Nov. 3 – The Welsh woman who was awarded a BEM for saved a church and helped the homeless in Hamburg in the Second World War. A fascinating story.
World War Two: Newport woman celebrated for saving Germany church
Nov. 2 – recognition for developer of fuel cells that took Apollo to the Moon
Recognition at last for Tom Bacon, the scientist you’ve never heard of who helped put men on the moon | Apollo 11 | The Guardian
Oct. 29 – Aerospace Medicine Exhibit at Pensacola. Sounds interesting.
DVIDS – News – Naval Aerospace Medicine Exhibit opened at National Naval Aviation Museum
Oct. 22 – STEM courses at Winnipeg
STEM programs with Royal Aviation Museum
Oct. 22 – and return of Junkers F.13
New Aircraft at Royal Aviation Museum
Oct. 22 – and a celebration of restoration
Preservation Ball at Aviation Museum
Oct. 7 – Space Weather and Aviation
NAV CANADA How Space Weather and Solar Storms Impact Aviation
Oct. 4 – No details, but always a concern. (My group once purchased a smoke-float needed for our restoration, and it came in the mail from the USA, looking like a small bomb, made of wood, but armed! Yet we couldn’t ship parts to the USA because US Customs considered “Bomb Bay Doors” and “Bomb Hoists” to be bomb parts! [before September 11, I might add])
Unexploded device found at Metheringham Airfield Visitors Centre
Sept. 23 – A new site I have found, Admiral Cloudberg. If you have enough of sites and commentors that cover aviation accidents poorly or even frivolously, this site is very different. This is her report on the loss of Panarctic Electra CF-PAB in 1974, with background information on the history of oil exploration in the arctic at that time. Its very impressive!
Nightmare at the Edge of the World: The crash of Panarctic Oils flight 416 | by Admiral Cloudberg | Medium
And an old but fun article on the trash we have left on the Moon (up to 2019).
Moon buggies and bags of poo: what humans left on the moon | The moon | The Guardian
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